Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Tough US immigration policy could be the key to China winning technology race, says top AI investor

China wants world leadership in artificial intelligence by 2030, and Sinovation says bringing Chinese talent home from US will be part of that effort. Venture capital firm’s president says there will be more investment in basic science research

China’s technology race with the United States could frustrate its efforts to develop artificial intelligence (AI), while Washington’s anti-immigration policies would allow Beijing to catch up by building a strong talent pool, a top Chinese technology investor has said.

Ning Tao, president and partner of Sinovation Ventures, one of China’s leading venture capital businesses with a focus on AI, said that while US President Donald Trump’s administration may use the 16-month trade war to stall Chinese technology companies by limiting their access to US-made chips and other key components, it would not stop China from hiring the best talent in the field.

The US has accused China of stealing intellectual property and unfairly subsidising its tech firms. It has also blacklisted Chinese tech giant Huawei from buying American components, and has since moved to targeting smaller Chinese start-ups
“The US has always imposed restrictions on the export of American technology to China. Whether it is IBM or Microsoft, they have always limited our access to higher-end processors,” Tao said at the Understanding China conference in the southern city of Guangzhou, an event staged by Beijing think tank the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy.

Those restrictions have had a bigger effect in recent times because there were more Chinese tech firms, particularly start-ups, Tao said.

“This has created a crisis for us which tells us the importance of investing more heavily in basic science research,” she said, “This will certainly slow us down, and the development in some areas could even be stalled for a time until we come up with the solution.”

Sinovation, founded in 2009 by Kaifu Lee, a former senior Google executive, has been at the forefront of China’s rapidly growing AI industry.

With offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Sinovation has invested in more than 300 start-ups, including photo-editing app Meitu and Mobike, a bicycle-sharing app.

It was also one of the first to feel the heat of the US-China tech war, when a unit of the US defence department highlighted Sinovation in a report titled “China’s Technology Transfer Strategy” in January 2018. It called the firm “a great example of an active Chinese venture firm investing in the US” in areas such robotics, computer vision and virtual reality.

This month, Washington set its sights on Chinese tech start-ups, adding 28 organisations to a blacklist following concerns about their role in Xinjiang. They were blocked from buying American products.

Eight on the list were AI tech firms, including facial recognition specialist start-up Megvii Technology, which counts Sinovation Ventures as one of its backers. Lee, an early Megvii backer, wrote in a book published last year that the start-up was “a world leader in facial and image-recognition technology”.

Lee’s firm got out of the US market amid an increasingly hostile business environment towards Chinese firms, closing its American branch after the head of its Silicon Valley office departed in late 2017.

“We decided to open an office [in 2013] in Silicon Valley because it would allow us to learn about the latest technology and new business models. We also aimed to bring American entrepreneurs into the Chinese market,” Tao said. “But because of the new laws caused by the trade war, our investment there was met by increasing limitations, so we decided to close the office.”

As part of the escalating trade war, the US stepped up its scrutiny of Chinese investments by increasing the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US to review non-controlling stakes and investments in addition to takeovers.

In November 2018, Lee told Bloomberg information service that he was considering scaling back investments in the US if relations between Beijing and Washington continued to deteriorate.

About 95 per cent of the firm’s money had been invested in China, and Lee was quoted as saying “that could easily be 98 or 100 per cent”.

He said US policy was forcing his firm to “look for smart, technical Chinese people in America and bring them back to China”.

Tao said that as a US government crackdown on foreign influence spilled into academia, taking a toll on Chinese or Chinese-American researchers, China could benefit from Trump’s anti-immigration policy.

“While the US is driving talent away, it is the perfect time for us to race to bring them back to China.”
This talent, Tao said, would be the key asset in fuelling China’s rise in the field.

The Chinese government wants world leadership in artificial intelligence by 2030, when the domestic industry is forecast to be worth about US$150 billion.

With the proliferation of AI technology-based applications in recent years, the huge trove of data produced by China’s consumer market has given Chinese AI companies an advantage over their US counterparts.

But China will need breakthroughs in core technologies and research theories to cement its leadership position.

“As Chinese tech companies advance, there are fewer and fewer [examples] for us to emulate and to learn from. We have now become the leader, so this has created a pressure for us to break new ground, and the key to finding new direction through basic research,” she said.

“We rely on scientific and tech talent in achieving breakthroughs, so it is of the utmost importance that we attract more talent. The advance in theories made in academic papers is not something that can be banned or restricted by one country.”

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
International Astronaut Team Launched to Space Station
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
Oil Prices Set to Surge After US Strikes Iran
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
×